“The happiness and unhappiness of the rational, social animal depends not on what he feels but on what he does; just as his virtue and vice consist not in feeling but in doing.”

“As for others whose lives are not so ordered, he reminds himself constantly of the characters they exhibit daily and nightly at home and abroad, and of the sort of society they frequent; and the approval of such men, who do not even stand well in their own eyes, has no value for him.”

“A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions.”

“Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.”

“How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.”

“Precz z książkami! Już nie dawaj się im pociągnąć! Nie wolno! (...) Łaknienie zaś książek precz od siebie rzuć, byś nie umierał wśród narzekań, lecz spokojnie.”

“Retire into thyself. The rational principle which rules has this nature,that it is content with itself when it does what is just, and so securestranquility.”